Digital BW, The Print

Jim, you sir, are a star.

Thanks very much for your evidently lengthy period infront of your 
screen on my behalf - I think you sussed it, at least, what you 
describe is exactly what I'm seeing.

Steve

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "jim hayes" 
<jimhayes@j...> wrote:
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., "scrber" 
<stephen.bate@m...> 
> wrote:
> > Run about 30 A4 sheets through my new MIS VM set-up (in a no 
more 
> > carts CIS).
> > 
> > I have some horrid black problems.  The set-up seems fine, then 
it 
> > leaks black ink all over one side of the page and the nozzles 
clog.
> > I've run about 10 cleaning cycles and still can't get perfect 
black 
> > nozzle checks.
> > 
> > I've tried searching the archives but cant really find the 
oracle 
> > tips on clearing clogs - is this just a teething problem that 
> > plagues new installations?
> 
> I'm not an oracle, just a tired old guy trying to keep his nozzles 
> clear<g>.
> But I think I can pretty well, with the above disclaimer, isolate 
this 
> for you. It's one of two problems:
> 
> 1)(NOT very likely from your desrciption): If your printer has 
been 
> getting dust in it for three-nine months, depending on how clean 
the 
> environment is, blotting is often a sign that dust and cat hairs, 
etc 
> are collected on the bottom of printhead. This is solved by 
getting 
> printhead to left with power off, sneaking a paper towel (I use a 
> strong, tear resistant, lint resistant "photo-wipe"), putting a 
few 
> drops of windex, Fantastik, or my favorite: 40% ethanol to 60% 
> distilled water. Then you wipe the head back and forth across the 
> towel and watch the lint come off.
> 
> Since this happened just after a new CIS install, I would guess 
the 
> 2nd option is much much more likely...
> 
> 2) Air in printhead/CIS: this causes two things to happen... if 
it's 
> trying to print air, you don't get ink in your nozzle check-it's 
> misssing lines, maybe most or all of them in the k. A pump can't 
pump 
> water if it's sucking on air bubbles in the line, after all. A 
water 
> pump will also "sputter" water as it deals with the air. This is 
what 
> "cavitation" is all about. Well- your printhead is "sputtering" or 
> coughing up ink because there's air in there. Happened to me a lot 
> when I was installing new non-CIS, non-Epson carts in my 1280. So- 
ink 
> messing up your printer bed.
> 
> 1st thing: stop doing excessive cleanings! If you do more than two 
or 
> three in a row, you actually INCREASE the amount of air in the 
line, 
> because the printer is trying to pull more ink in after two or 
three 
> times and actually sucks itself dryer. Put just three or four 
drops of 
> yoiur fav fluid described in #1 above on the parking pad and let 
the 
> printhead return to the right and press the off button. Go away 
for 
> 6-12 hours. You need to let the printer recover from all those 
> cleaning cycles. Ink will slowly percolate back into the 
printhead , 
> at least a little if not fully.
> 
> Then turn it on and get some Epson heavyweight matte paper, EAM, 
or 
> some other paper you can scrap or that is cheap- but thicker than 
> plain paper so that if it blobs you can absorb it in the paper. 
Put 
> the printer dialog setup in draft mode, choose "plain paper". You 
want 
> to run a quick print, not putting down lots of ink all at once as 
you 
> would at 1440 dpi or with photo paper setting. Run the Mis purge 
> pattern file print with all the colors on it (see MIS site for 
> download). Now as you run it observe the color stripes carefully. 
If 
> you get blotting of k ink, esp on left side of paper, immedieately 
> cancel print. Be on your toes, it will happen suddenly. If this 
> doesn't happen, but one or more colors doesn't print fully, let it 
go 
> for awhile and see if it starts to come back.
> 
> If a color has come back in, good. If not, or if blotting has 
occured 
> , well okay. Next, do a nozzle check followed by  ONE cleaning 
cycle. 
> Then do a nozzle check again (use the heavier paper still- it may 
> still blot on you). If needed do a 2nd cleaning cycle. Then 
another 
> nozzle check. Maybe risk a third cleaning, nozzle check.
> 
> If it clears after two or three cleanings, fine. If not, run one 
or 
> two purge patterns as before. Runnning purge pattern or other 
prints 
> allows the nozzles to recover from the cleaning cycles, so you can 
> risk another round of not more than TWO cleaning cycles after the 
> first or second purge print. If it doesn't clear after the second 
> round then return the printer to off and repeat these last three 
> paragraphs in 6-12 hours. You can try running a solid color purge 
> print (MIS download) of the k if the sputtering has stopped but 
the 
> nozzles aren't quite filled in- this is more intensive as more ink 
is 
> used.
> 
> If it's not cleared then you need to buy some MIS Rivets or a set 
of 
> EZ-Plugs from a nomorecarts seller.
> 
> Install NEW Epson carts. If you have an 1270/1280/1290, a slightly 
> used set might work. The Epson ink is very liquid and contains a 
> solvent. It seems to remove both clogs AND air bubbles. You run a 
> purge pattern. Then a nozzle check followed by up to three 
cleaning 
> cycles. Then a purge print. With any luck, after up to three 
cleaning 
> cycles you should start to see the air clearing out. You can run a 
> purge print on a higher dpi setting with heavyweight matte paper 
> selected in dialog. Also use your cheap heavy paper still in the 
> printer, but the sputtering should be gone. After running a few 
purge 
> patterns, maybe some of them just the K pattern print, Your 
nozzles 
> should be clear.
> 
> You now have a choice. If you have a 1270/1280/1290 it's a little 
> easier because the Epson carts self seal when you remove, at least 
> for a few removals anyway no air gets trapped in them. So if you 
need 
> to install them again you can. If it's an 1160 say, the Epson 
carts 
> get air trapped in them when you remove them and aren't as 
releiable 
> for clearing this problem again once removed.
> 
> You can remove Epson carts and quickly pull out the rivits/EZplugs 
and 
> install CIS...or you can assume that CIS has air in it and go the 
> extra step of removing ink/air from the bottom of the bad ink 
chamber 
> with a syringe with a MIS "bottom fill adapter" (see their 
assories 
> page). You draw ink from bottom of cart by gently inserting bottom 
> fill adapter, and then dumping it back into the right bottle, and 
> repeating until no air bubbles or foamy ink is seen in syringe. If 
you 
> press in too hard, the filter in the bottom of the CIS cart may 
get 
> damaged so be gentle. If you choose this latter method, leave the 
> Epson carts in printer until you are done so the switchover will 
be 
> quick. I have never done the latter procedure on a nomorecarts 
CIS, 
> only a CFS (MIS flavor of the same system), so view that as a 
> disclaimer. It did help my CFS run marginally better.
> 
> Either way, when you reinstall the CIS carts again, run two 
cleaning 
> cycles right away- this will minimise any more sputtering that may 
be 
> reintroduced as a result of changing carts, and draw that nasty 
ink 
> down into the printer pad where it won't cause a mess. But no more 
> than two or three or you will add more air to the problem. Then 
run 
> purge prints- maybe three of them, unless on the first you get no 
> color stripe at all for a chamber. Then you either have to repeat 
> something to get the air out again.
> 
> Finally, I think some others have simply raised the bottles about 
1/4 
> inch (use a CD jewel case) for awhile and this I guess helps. 
Raise 
> them too high and the ink will drain from bottles into printer 
though. 
> I think I tried this at times myself, but I must have got mixed 
> results, because I wound up doing all the above garbage.<g>
> 
> Anyway, good luck.
> 
> yada, yada
> Jim H.